census

American  

[sen-suhs] / ˈsɛn səs /

noun

• censuses
  plural

1. an official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex or gender, occupation, etc.

2. (in ancient Rome) the registration of citizens and their property, for purposes of taxation.

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verb (used with object)

1. to take a census of (a country, city, etc.).

   The entire nation is censused every 10 years.

census British  

/ ˈsɛnsəs /

noun

1. an official periodic count of a population including such information as sex, age, occupation, etc

2. any offical count

   a traffic census

3. (in ancient Rome) a registration of the population and a property evaluation for purposes of taxation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• precensus
  noun
• censual
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• censuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of census

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin: “a listing and property assessment of citizens,” equivalent to cēns(ēre) “to assess, register (citizens) in a census” + -tus suffix of verb action; for -s- in place of -st- see censor

Explanation

If you live in the U.S., every ten years you'll participate in a census, a process for counting people. The information collected is used to plan for schools, transportation, social services people will need, and also for determining congressional districts. On the census form you’ll be asked how many people live in your house, their ages, and ethnic and racial backgrounds. With this, the government can plan facilities and also track population trends — whether cities are growing or shrinking, what ethnic groups make up our population, and where they live. We get the word and the idea from the Romans, who registered citizens and their property so they could be taxed. The first U.S. census was held in 1790.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

census censuses

This figure is based on a wider review of US census data, although their study notes that it is hard to know exact numbers for certain.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

That decade saw fewer competitive House races before new maps created more battleground areas in 2010 and 2020, the result of regular redistricting that occurs every decade after the U.S. census.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

Together, these discoveries may eventually help astronomers build the most complete census yet of the universe's enormous black holes.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026

In Poland's 2021 census, 71 percent of the population identified as Roman Catholic, down from 88 percent 10 years earlier.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

Each year it had made a census of the fish living in this stream.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Between the censuses of 2010 and 2020, the number of Americans reporting that they belonged to more than one race jumped by 276%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025

At 2.6%, it’s a slight gain over the 2.1% recorded in the 1990, 2000 and 2010 U.S. censuses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025

However, between the 2017 and 2022 censuses, that decline accelerated dramatically.

From Salon ● Feb. 9, 2025

Now experts from genealogy firm Findmypast have pored over censuses and newspaper archives to uncover the story of the workers who left the intriguing time capsule.

From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024

His Cange census allowed him to begin building files and to create a baseline against which future censuses could measure how well his system was working.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Related Words

• enumeration
• poll